The Dawn of a New Age
by TwinPliers
Summary: "The new roots are coming, and they are coming soon. It is as you yourself said: the dawn of a new age is upon us." ... When the threads between the mortal world and living world are disrupted in the Warriors world, the universe feels the need to correct these errors... via dumping the countries into the world of the cats. ... [Takes place after The Last Hope.]


**Author's Note: Hello, Jean here with an author's note. This is my first FanFiction so try not to bash too harshly, especially considering the two things crossed here. This was partially a request for a friend, partially an exercise to break me into writing actual stories again. Please review or favorite or something, those are particularly helpful in improving.**

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A tall cliff-face reached high into the blue overhead, its rocky structure littered with clusters of shrubs and other vegetation. Water cascaded from its jagged peak and cascade to where it crashed into the ground, creating a fine spray of mist and insistent susurrus of white noise. A shimmering lake pooled out from this source of water from which it eventually narrowed into a stream.

Water gently lapped at this stream's banks, capturing the attention of a blue-gray feline sitting alongside it. Her blue gaze was focused on the water as it silently rolled past. Minnows flaunted their slimy skin with flashes of silver and white as they found the presence of the cat not that of a threat.

She lifted her muzzle to capture a cool breeze in the nape of her neck fur and allowed the tiniest of smiles to grace her features. There was absolutely nothing on her mind, as for once, all was well.

The forest Clans below had finally been able to find serenity.

The wind picked up, buffeting the stream before the cat's paws. Minnows scattered. The water distorted and rippled until in its shiny depths an image appeared, a window into the world below. The cat recognized the location in a heartbeat. ThunderClan.

The camp, while still slightly tattered, was just beginning to show signs of recovery. The previously destroyed thorn barrier now displayed signs of new growth; vines were beginning to reach up from under the fallen beech tree; the last stains of blood were finally beginning to fade from the dirt powdering the Clan's clearing. The cats of the Clan were recovering as well—wounds slowly healed, fur slowly re-grew and limps slowly vanished as injuries became things of the past.

Mending the wounds of the camps and their inhabitants was undoubtedly going well in all four of the Clans after the attack from the Dark Forest.

Since ancient prophecies before Bluestar's time, it had been stated that after the Dark Forest's fall the Clans were destined to have a life of peace.

But then, the Clan ancient prophecies didn't apply to every world, did they?

The she-cat, who gently swept a paw pad over the image to dissipate it, as well as every other cat living both in StarClan and the Clans below now believed that nothing more was to come and that peace had at last been reached.

The laws of the universe were about to make themselves known.

The she-cat sensed the presence before she saw it; she turned her head as a scrawny, furless cat slowly padded out from behind a patch of vegetation. He slowly dipped his head before mewing a greeting. "Bluestar."

Bluestar dipped her head in turn to the ancient cat. "Rock. What brings you to these skies? It has certainly been a while." Her tone held not a note of hostility; the blind cat would never be unwelcomed in StarClan after the deeds he had performed for all cats below.

Rock fixed his egg-like gaze directly on Bluestar, a skill he seemed to have honed in his many years of living—existing, really— without visual aid. "Indeed it has." He rasped in reply, making his way to join Bluestar by the side of the stream. He lowered himself into a sitting position and allowed his white gaze to sweep over the landscape around them.

Bluestar's ears perked. Rock avoiding her first question did not go unnoticed. The silence between them grew and Bluestar dipped her chin slightly. "The Clans finally have the opportunity to live without fear in their hearts."

Rock had begun slowly drawing the scent of the warm air through a slightly parted maw; despite Leaf-fall staring in the Clans below, StarClan remained green and lush. "At least until one Clan finds a reason to be angry at another. Prey, weather… even things as petty as disliking another's personality can result in war."

"But is that not the way of Clan life?" The blue-gray she-cat cast him a curious look. "The leaders will surely be able to pull their Clans out of whatever struggles they enter before long; the dawn of a new age is upon us."

"…" Rock's ears swiveled back against his head. "But at what price?"

"What price?" Bluestar repeated. Her tail drew close over her paws. "Did we not pay for the tranquility we have achieved with the bloodshed of our previous battle?" Her thoughts briefly flashed to that of her dear friend, Spottedleaf.

"Yes; that price has already been paid for in full." He stated in an almost assuring manner. "But what about the price for prophecies themselves?" Rock now lifted himself to his paws, staring directly into the blue sky overhead.

_The prophecies themselves? _Bluestar chose to keep her mouth shut and await Rock to continue in the case he answered her question.

He didn't keep her waiting long. "Long since the beginning of the time of the Clans, since the beginning of even _my _time, prophecies have been sent by our ancestors to the cats who still lived in order to guide their paws to wisdom and prosperity. As long as any cat can remember, it's been a normal act to meet with your ancestors for a meeting or for advice on leading cats who rely on you. If I am not mistaken, you Clan leaders receive nine lives to aid in serving your Clan as best as you can through tough times and hardships.

"But this is where a problem arises. As of late, cats have begun using more and more of this prophetic power."

"… Prophetic power?" Bluestar murmured in confusion.

Rock turned to face her. "Opposed to merely visiting once a moon as medicine cats or leaders do, or even just on occasion as circumstance is understandable, as of late cats have been traveling from the present to the past, from the past to the present an unaccountable amount of times in the last few moons alone. They have tread paws from their world into that of their ancestors above and from their ancestors above to their ancestors below many times in response to the recent threat from the Dark Forest."

"Rock, I do not believe I understand you."

Rock's long, gnarled claws twitched with barely suppressed impatience. Bluestar clamped her mouth shut and hoped that the ancient cat would soon explain himself; what difference did it make if cats were suddenly traveling out of their own world more than they had? Was it really that problematic?

"Has it not occurred to you that such visits have been significantly icreasing in numbers? I would say that with this recent prophecy, cats have strayed from their own world twofold, even threefold as much as they once had in the past. It's almost as if visiting these places have become second home for some." Rock reached a single claw into the water before him; ripples spawned where he punctured the surface, bouncing to and fro and off one another in a mesmerizing display of miniature waves. "Yet these lands are not such, and cannot be so. These are no places for a mortal cat to stay for too long."

Bluestar's usual wisdom fell into place; she mentally connected a few of the dots being placed before her. "That is why you're here, isn't it?" She meowed slowly. "Cats have been traveling where their paws should not go… too often? If it is best, I could share such with the Clan medicine cats during the next half-moon meeting—"

"No," Rock cut in, his eyes slitting. "There is no need for that."

The tom removed his paw from the water, pausing to allow a final drip to roll off of his claw before returning his paw to where it had originally been. "Because it is already too late."

The wind ominously picked up and ruffled the fur of the pair.

"We have already damaged the threads connecting this world and that of the world of the living; that has been proved well enough by how we deceased can physically fight the mortal cats while on their own soil, as during the Dark Forest's battle. These threads between are tricky, like roots on a plant. While there are many in existence, cutting a single root could affect the entire plant... and I'm afraid such has already happened."

_It couldn't possibly be 'too late'—nothing has happened of significance below! _Bluestar's paws worked at the grass below in confusion. "Please continue, Rock."

Rock gave a slow shake of his head. "There is nothing more to be said. While this plant's roots may be damaged, in order to survive, the plant must re-grow new shoots and get a firm grip in the soil it has sprouted in. The new roots are coming, Bluestar, and they are coming soon. If we will like them or not is the question, and if this balances or further disrupts the existence of the Clans has yet to be known. It is as you yourself said: _the dawn of a new age is upon us_."


End file.
